Medical tests called Biomarkers actually
indicate signs of aging at different levels down to DNA.
At the functional level, we test such things as visual accommodation,
auditory response, and memory succession. We do a skin biopsy
at the cellular level. We test biochemicals such as hormones and cholesterol,
and DNA is checked for damage to hereditary matter.

... comprehensive tests before
prescribing a treatment regimen. What do the tests involve? At the functional
level, we test such things as visual accommodation, auditory
response, and memory succession. We do a skin biopsy at the
cellular level. We test biochemicals such as hormones and cholesterol,
and DNA is checked for damage to hereditary matter.

... average treatment regimen? Specific treatment
regimens are customized based on a person's specific goals.
We start with counseling, diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements.
More comprehensive testing and hormonal supplements may also
be prescribed.

...replacement therapy? Hormones
are chemical messengers that control bodily functions. Aging
depletes the body's hormonal levels. We measure a patient's
level of hormones and prescribe balanced hormone replacement
to restore hormone levels to where they were in the patient's
early 30s. In many cases, this can be done naturally with secretogogues,
which release the hormones already made by the body.

...of Anti-Aging? The United States National Institute on Aging is funding studies
to confirm earlier findings that human growth
hormone (HGH) and other hormones, including
DHEA (anadrenal hormone) and sex hormones,
can slow, stop, and/or possibly reverse the
changes associated with aging. The levels of
a variety of hormones drop substantially with
age. Hormones are protein messengers that tell
the cells what to do (such as protein synthesis
and cell replication and repair). One of the
hormones that declines sharply is human growth
hormone. Human growth hormone (HGH) is a hormone
synthesized by the pituitary gland in the human
brain. It is responsible for the physical growth
in childhood and puberty periods. The circulating levels fall by more
than 50
percent from the peak during puberty and reaches "older" levels
by age 33 to 40!

Research in human growth hormone (HGH) in healthy human subjects
prior to the
1980s was restricted due to scientists inability
to synthesize the complex molecule,
made up of 191 amino acids. However, scientific
DNA recombinant technological
breakthroughs in the early 1980s finally gave
scientists the ability to synthesize the
human growth hormone in large quantities. The
human growth hormone molecule, so
synthesized by the DNA-recombinant technique,
is identical to the one produced by the
pituitary gland in the human brain. This led
the Federal Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) to promptly approve growth hormone for
human consumption and
experimentation in healthy individuals in the
late-1980s.

One of the scientists who jumped into human growth hormone research
was Daniel
Rudman, M. D. at the Medical College of Wisconsin
in Milwaukee. For many years, Dr.
Rudman had asked the world these questions: "Do hormone
levels control the aging
process? If they do, then does replacing the
hormone levels to the youthful range in
humans reverse the effects of aging?" Up until the 1980s,
no scientist in the world
could give him an answer, especially with human
growth hormone (which drops the
most drastically), because human growth hormone
research could not be done on
healthy individuals due to the lack of FDA
approval in this country.

Once this hormone became FDA approved, Dr. Rudman and his colleagues
promptly
entered into a double blind study using twelve
healthy elderly men, ages 61 to 81, from
a nearby Veterans Administration Hospital.
These volunteer subjects were given
human growth hormone three times a week for
six months to restore the
circulatinginsulin growth factor (IGF) levels
to the youthful range-above 350 ug/ml. IGF
is a protein synthesized mostly by the liver,
and its level is regulated by the levels of
growth hormone secreted and in circulation.
It represents, an indirect measurement of
the circulating levels of growth hormone, since
the secretion of growth hormone in the
human brain is in a pulsatile fashion and is
difficult to measure accurately during any
period.

When compared with the controlled subjects who received the
placebo, the growth
hormone treated subjects showed changes that
were "equivalent in magnitude to the
changes incurred during 10 to 20 years of aging.
He reported his discovery and was
promptly published in the prestigious New England
of Medicine, July 1990.

Following his landmark discovery, scientists from all over the
world commenced
research on replacing growth hormone in elderly
persons. The results were
astonishing. Additional beneficial findings
were discovered - Growth hormone was
shown to increase bone mass in osteoporosis,
to reverse declining cardiac function, to
reverse declining pulmonary function, to reverse
the decline in immune function
associated with aging, increase lean, muscle
mass, decrease the percentage of body
fat, increase capacity for exercise , hence,
vitality, prevent illness, and reduce sleeping
disorders. The Scandinavian scientists even
eliminated the minor side effects seen in
the Rudman Study-namely problems associated
with the water retention effects of the
growth hormone. By changing Rudman's three
times weekly method of injecting growth
hormone to twice daily injection of smaller
doses of growth hormone, the water
retention side effects from growth hormone
(though reversible) were completely
eliminated. Between the years of 1990 and 1992,
hundreds of scientific studies were
conducted on growth hormone's effect on age-associated
changes in the human body.
The findings concluded that growth hormone
replacement therapy can be safe with
proper doses and proper methods of administration.
That is good news for advanced
aged men and women with medical problems related
to aging and growth deficiencies
who want to reverse the effects of aging.

After examining the various studies that show growth hormones
ability to reverse
changes associated with aging, the Stanford
University Medical Researchers
concluded in 1992 that "It is possible that physiologic
growth hormone replacement
therapy might REVERSE or prevent some of the
'inevitable' sequelae of aging.
(Psychoneuro-endocrinology, volume 17, NO.
4, pages 327-333, 1992)

Unfortunately, growth hormone has received many "bad raps" lately
in many lay
journals because of its abuse by athletes for
its performance-enhancing effects. These
athletes abused growth hormone in large doses
which led to a condition called
acromegaly-the overgrowth of many bodily parts.
When one compares growth
hormone to insulin hormone, the growth hormone
is much more forgiving, as a-.1
overdose of insulin hormone can cause instant
DEATH!

Medical research is often trapped in a paradox. For example,
fetal tissue research for
the treatment of Parkinson's disease, in vitro
fertilization for infertile couples, and the
use of growth hormone for reversing aging are
all examples of science working to
improve lives. But these scientific endeavors
are often criticized by skeptics who
believe we are treading into uncharted intellectual
and moral areas where humankind
is not intended to go - Still, it seems imprudent
to limit growth hormone research and
replacement therapy simply because a few skeptics
disagree or because of abuse by
a few athletes.